Foam Filling Boat

[MarkLong]

Looking at foam filling the hull of an old plate boat for safety.

Has anyone had experience in foam filling an old boat?

Best product to use etc.. etc..

Method of filling?

any advice and experience would be great.
Cheers in advance

[Noelm]

there is a few ways to go about it, from self expanding foam to proper stuff cut to shape and fitted to eliminate as much air space as possible, just make sure you buy the correct foam, polystyrene and stuff like that is no good.

[BaitThrower]

everyone use to use old 2L plastic milk bottles glued together and dropped in.
Not sure if there is abetter way though

[Noelm]

yep, that is an option, so is pool noodles, but I reckon do it once and do it properly.

[frankgrimes]

There's been a few threads on this topic.

This one should help:
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...highlight=foam

Mick

[reddybayfisher]

Thanks Mick - that saved me looking through my old threads to find the one I started on this.....

I ended up using a foam called Microlene - due to it not melting when reacting with petrol (if you have an underfloor tank and it leaks like mine did).....great product - easy to cut and you just place as much as you can in : be sure the floor is screwed down tightly - but pricy as far as I can remember.....there is a link to a supplier on the thread that Mick as linked....

[charleville]

I replaced the floor on my Quintrex recently and was pleased to find the foam underneath in good condition after 8 1/2 years.

However, there was still some opportunity to put more in some spaces so I just threw in a stack of one litre milk plastic bottles. As they are not in the sun, I am assuming that they will last a while.


.

[nigelr]

The microlen is excellent, got mine from Clarke rubber for about $250 a sheet,
2400 x 1200 x 100mm. Tipped off by Snelly 1976, who did his boat over on the west coast of Tassie.
Cheers.

[MarkLong]

The floor is a welded checker plate so removing and placing foam is not an option.

We were maybe looking at drilling holes in checker plate an poring in an expanding product and then resealing.

Maybe its best to try really hard and fing the existing small holes that allow water to enter.

[deckie]

Yeah dont go iniviting work before knowing what the problem is.
Bottom line is you will need to find the entry pts for the water regardless right ? I'd be starting with that...then work forward to a fix and work out afterwards IF you need the flotation.
How often are the pumps kicking in ? How much water gets down there ?

[oldboot]

Direct filling with expanding foam is not a good idea for an alloy boat.......it can react with the aloy and it does retain moisture.

the other thing is that the expansion reaction of this expanding foam stuff is very powerfull.....ther are plenty of stories about blokes filling their hull spaces with this stuff and having the boat busted appart, in spite of having largish access holes.

If you only have small access holes..using small pieces of flotation may be the go.

the pod on the back of mine, is not sealed and there is ony a small access hole....so I stuff it with 6 inch lengths of pool noodle..a bit of a fiddle but it gives me another 10 odd liters of flotation.

there has been a lot said about expanding foam disolving in petrol..I tested a piece of the original stuffout of mine and it seemd to stand up OK.

lots of people poo poo styro....but there are still plenty of new boats with it filling the thwarts.

Have a good look at that tasmanian document....it has quite some insight.

one real option for you is to sheet the inner walls of the hull in poly-u foam like microclen.

cheers

[ezza]

i just purchased a 2400 x 1200 x 100mm sheet of microlen from Sealife Designs at Nundah/brisbane for $183 inc - cheaper than clarke rubber.
link: http://www.sealifedesigns.com/sealifeshop.html

cheers

[oldboot]

That seems quite reasonable.....I used to use quite a bit of plain grey poly u foam in 50mm for lining cases......& I used to pay arround $80 a sheet..and I haven'y baught any for a couple of years.

There is a croud down the coast that do a variety of poly u......including flotation..I must have a chat with them..see waht their spec is and their $

cheers

[LoungeLizard]

To find the leak, add some detector dye to water and pour into the hull when the boat is on the trailer or (ideally) on an adjustable stand/cradle. You might need to tilt/roll the boat, using jacks/stands, to get the water into all the nooks and crannies. Obviously you should disconnect the bilge and don't use too much water 'cause the of the weight. If you want to be fancy you can add a fluoro dye that shows up under a UV light.

Another trick I've heard of (but haven't seen in action) is to connect an air hose to the bung and then listen/feel for leaks in all the suspect spots. You can also paint some soapy water in the those spots and check for bubbles. Just keep the pressure low, you don't wanna blow up your boat This method is only useful if the deck is sealed, which seems to be the case for your boat?